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jennycalendar · 5 years

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imperfections (67/?)

read it on ao3!

it is Always nice to return to regularly updating this fic. makes me feel so goddamn accomplished.

One of the most majorly frustrating parts of being newly human was that, with her pendant smashed, Anyanka had lost all magical capabilities. Though she hadn’t always been a vengeance demon, she had always had magic within her, and having that stripped from her felt like an extra blow to her dignity. Still, even without magic, you could pick up on weird vibes, and Anyanka was getting some seriously unusual feelings every time she passed the library that housed the Hellmouth.

Something was brewing. Something big. And Anyanka didn’t like that concept one bit. She needed her necklace back before things went haywire, and—

“Anya!”

Anyanka jumped, then turned, schooling her expression into her best substitute-teacher smile. “Jenny,” she said, infusing as much warmth into the name as she could. Surprisingly, she actually liked Jenny—in another life, if some man had treated her poorly, the lady might have made an excellent vengeance demon. “It’s good to see you. Listen, I was wondering—”

“—about the spell?” Jenny finished, giving Anyanka a small, nervous smile as she stepped into the classroom. “Of course. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting—honestly, I’m probably being a little too overprotective. It’s just that—well, you know the old adage. Magic is a dangerous thing when done with strangers.”

“I’m not too much of a stranger, I hope!” said Anyanka in as injured a tone as possible, deciding to play up the “gentle-and-hurt-young-thing” that seemed to work wonders with the idiot Watcher boy. “If you can’t trust your coworkers, Jenny, who can you trust?”

But Jenny was looking at her in the same half-thoughtful way that those annoying little Slayers had studied her. Anyanka didn’t like this development. “Still,” she said, “I hope you’ll understand my reticence. Those kids mean a lot to me.”

“For god’s sake, Calendar,” said Anyanka, finally breaking. “I’m not asking for your help in a Satanic ritual, and I’m not asking you to murder babies. All I want is my damn necklace, and I don’t have enough magical talent to even cast the spell with you. You can look the spell over yourself—hell, you can even look at a diagram of my necklace, okay? Just cast the spell!”

It took her a moment to realize that she’d let her mask slip, and then she winced. Her bluntness had never gone over well with humans, and Jenny’s trust in her was already wavering. Already backtracking, Anyanka hastily sweetened her smile, then said, “I’m sorry, it’s just been a long day and I—”

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?” said Jenny conversationally.

Anyanka winced again, but kept her smile firmly plastered on. “What do you mean?”

“You’re not that good at pretending to be a sweet little ingénue,” said Jenny, who was grinning a little. “The key is, you know, not completely losing your temper when you don’t get exactly what you want. Also, you were a little heavy-handed with that whole not too much of a stranger, I hope—”

Anyanka scoffed, insulted. “I’ll have you know that that worked wonders in the Victorian era!” she huffed, then winced. “Um. Not…that I…would know?”

Jenny simply raised an eyebrow.

“Fine,” said Anya. “Yes. I am hiding something. But you know what, it is none of your business—”

“See, I think it kind of is,” said Jenny. “Because you were going to try and trick me into getting that necklace for a reason, right? And now that I know what you’re doing, I can take steps to make sure you don’t start turning to other people in this town for help.” She smiled, a small, thin, dangerous smile. “You don’t have to tell me your business,” she said, “but I think I’d like to know if you plan on hurting the people I care about.”

“Are you blackmailing me?” said Anya, infuriated.

“I don’t know,” said Jenny, and shrugged. “How badly do you want that necklace?”

God, Anya resented being one-upped, and it was made worse by the fact that she couldn’t help admiring Jenny for it. Not a lot of humans could pull this kind of stuff on her. “Okay,” she said. “Fine. But if I tell you, you help me get my necklace back, because I am not just giving away personal information for free.”

Jenny considered this. “Okay,” she finally said. “As long as you’re honest with me about why you need it, and as long as it isn’t putting Rupert or my kids in danger.”

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable deal to Anyanka. Sure, she wouldn’t be able to restore Charlotte Emerson’s wish (rewriting this timeline might put Jenny and her charges in danger, and Anyanka was a demon—ahem, human—of her word), but she would have her powers back, and she’d missed them. “All right,” she said. “I’m a vengeance demon.”

Jenny’s eyes narrowed a little, but she nodded.

“Technically,” said Anyanka, “I’m pretty sure you guys are the reason I’m human. I granted a wish to Charlotte Emerson, and then there was a bit of a kerfuffle—”

“I remember that!” said Jenny suddenly. “In the grocery store! Faith said she saw you talking to her—that would have been when you granted her wish, right?”

Jenny was grasping this a whole lot quicker than Anyanka had anticipated. “Have you met vengeance demons before?” she asked curiously.

“My relatives are pretty big on vengeance,” said Jenny, shrugging. “I read up on different branches of supernatural vengeance in college.” She crossed her arms, studying Anyanka with something that seemed only a hair away from judgment. “I did promise I’d help you,” she said slowly, “but I want to make it clear that I don’t agree with your mission, and that I expect you to leave Sunnydale after this is over.”

Anyanka felt a twinge of sadness at that. Odd as it was, she liked Jenny—bits of the woman reminded her a little of a younger Hallie—and knowing that she’d lost Jenny’s good opinion stung more than she had expected it to. “Why would you help me, then?” she asked. “If you fundamentally disagree with vengeance as a concept?”

Jenny hesitated. Then she said, “I promised, and I’m a girl of my word. Me holding back on my promise just means that you’re going to look for some other way to get your necklace back, and I don’t want that way to come at the expense of the people I care about.”

“I can respect that,” said Anyanka, and meant it. She hesitated, then said, “Thank you, Jenny. This…it means a lot to me.”

Jenny exhaled. “Okay, now I gotta ask,” she said. “Why the hell would vengeance mean so much to you?”

Anyanka almost didn’t want to answer that one. But Jenny had been honest with her, and she felt like she should return the favor. “It’s not about the vengeance,” she said. “It’s about…” She trailed off. “I was hurt,” she said. “Badly. And now I get to be the one that hurts people, and I think I like that.”

Jenny nodded. Then she said, “I was hurt too. I don’t know if it was as badly as you, and I don’t think it’s my place to ask, but now I’m someone that makes sure no one else is ever hurt as badly as I was. I think I like that a little better than whatever it is you’ve got going.”

Anyanka wasn’t sure what she could say to that.

“I’ll help you with the spell,” said Jenny. “But I think I have one more condition.”

“Oh?” said Anyanka.

“I think I want you to help us out today,” said Jenny, in the same careful voice Anyanka had heard her use on problem students. “Just today. And then I’ll cast the spell and you can go on your whole vengeance kick, but…” She trailed off. “I feel like I wouldn’t be doing the right thing,” she said, “if I didn’t at least give you one chance to try and help people.”

Obviously the idiot Watcher couldn’t be a part of any attempts to save the world, but Jenny and her group needed the library without interruptions—a problem easily solved by Anyanka asking Wesley out on a date right after school, one she had absolutely no intention of going on. As soon as it was clear that Wesley was headed well out of town to the address Anyanka had sent him, Jenny shepherded the marginally-less-idiotic Watcher and a ridiculous number of high schoolers into the library, motioning for Anyanka to follow.

So now Anyanka was sitting in on what a bunch of high schoolers called a “Scooby meeting,” watching as they all talked about some Polaroids of a dead member of the Sisterhood of Jhe like they didn’t know what it was. It took her a good forty-five minutes to realize that they actually didn’t know what it was, at which point she said with some exasperation, “That’s a member of the Sisterhood of Jhe,” and then had them all looking at her like she was some kind of savant. “What?” she said. “They screwed up a few of my wishes back in ’78, and I don’t forget a face.”

“So you just let us sit there guessing?” said the blonde slayer indignantly. The brown-haired slayer directed a murderous look at Anyanka.

Anyanka shot Brownie a murderous look right back. “It was blatantly obvious,” she retorted. “Anyone with half a brain should know about the Sisterhood!”

“Anya,” began Jenny.

“It is Anyanka!” said Anyanka, because they should have known that too! She was the only well-known vengeance demon that went by Anya on her time off. “Do any of you ever open a book in your free time?”

Giles opened his mouth, looking indignant; Jenny covered his mouth with her hand before he could speak. “Shush,” she told him. “The doctor says two more days and we’re adhering to that. Anyanka, can you tell us anything else about the Sisterhood of Jhe?”

“I don’t know,” said Anyanka petulantly. “Are you going to all yell at me just because I’m smarter than all of you?”

“Can I punch her?” said Brownie.

“I think I’d like to punch her too,” said Blondie.

“No punching,” said Jenny.

“Just tell us about the freaking Sisterhood so I can go home and fix my nails!” said Cordelia Chase, whose name Anyanka only knew because of annoyingly loud gossip in the hallways.

Anyanka obliged. “Apocalypse cult,” she said. “They’re here to try and end the world. Probably looking to open the Hellmouth, if their cave den is any indication. There’s way more of them than the ones you kids killed, though, so you should probably start preparing yourselves for that.” She leaned back in the chair, feeling extremely self-satisfied. “You know what, Jenny, you were right,” she said. “Helping people is fun.”

Jenny pressed a hand to her temple. “You’re really not helping, Anyanka,” she said. “You’re actually causing a whole bunch of problems.”

“How did she know all that stuff so fast?” demanded Cordelia’s boy toy.

“She’s a vengeance demon,” said Jenny. “Been around for centuries. She’s bound to pick a thing or two up.” She blushed a little. “Um. That is, according to Rupert.”

“Oh, is he doing that telepathy spell thing on you too?” said Blondie with interest.

“Does anyone else have any more questions?” said Anyanka. “That I can immediately and effortlessly answer?” She still very much intended to follow up on that necklace thing, but she was very much enjoying the fact that her long life had granted her enough wisdom to impress the mortals. “I know many things,” she added, “probably more than your obsolescent old Watcher and your airheaded new Watcher combined, though that still isn’t all that much—”

Giles was now beginning to look a little sad. Jenny was now beginning to look a little angry.

“Um, Ms. Jenkins?” said Willow tentatively. “I think you might want to stop. You’re starting to hurt people’s feelings.”

This took Anyanka by surprise. Hurt feelings had never been a thing she’d had to consider before. Shaking this off, she said somewhat impatiently, “Jenny, about that necklace—”

“We have bigger fish to fry,” said Jenny thinly. “Rupert, can you look up any and every mention of the Sisterhood of Jhe, see if they have any weaknesses? Buffy, Faith, I think we’re going to have to enlist Angel on this one. Everyone else, we’re going to be working on putting together an arsenal of weapons to use in the event that the Sisterhood does manage to open the Hellmouth.”

Anyanka didn’t like that she’d been so easily ignored. “Jenny,” she began, “don’t you want to ask me more questions?”

“Anya,” said Jenny. “As useful as your knowledge is, you’re only helping us out today. We can’t start depending on you to answer all our questions.”

Anyanka had never been depended on before. Anyanka was also beginning to realize that she had never been listened to before. “Well, I—I could help out with this one mission of yours,” she said. “Maybe. Seeing as all of you seem hell-bent on being as terrifyingly slow with your research as possible.”

“Aren’t you demons all about ending the world?” Cordelia said doubtfully.

“Spike wasn’t,” said Blondie thoughtfully.

Anyanka didn’t know what that meant, so she decided to answer Cordelia’s question. “If there’s no more world,” she said, “there’s no more vengeance, and I’m out of a job. At the very least, I can help all of you with this one crusade before it’s back to vengeance for me.”

“Just don’t undervalue Rupert’s contributions and we’re good,” said Jenny a little coolly.

It took Anyanka a moment to realize what Jenny meant. “Oh!” she said, then, “Your Rupert really is very bright, for a man. I didn’t mean to offend him.”

Giles looked a little wryly amused by this, but not quite as hurt. Strangely, the fact that she’d made someone smile, instead of cry, or rage, or scream, made Anyanka feel…not unpleasant. She filed this feeling away to examine at a later date.

#fic #imperfections #lots of anya because i love anya

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jennycalendar · 7 years

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Imperfections (38/?)

this fic is getting so off track but i think it still loosely counts as a series rewrite...there are just so many plot points i need to make sure i address. apparently

ao3

“Found it!” Ms. Calendar tossed a book to Giles, looking extremely proud of herself, and took a quick bite from her plate of spaghetti.

Giles caught the book, holding it protectively to his chest. “This is an antique,” he began indignantly.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t throw books, you’re an absolute heathen, Jenny, how dare you,” Ms. Calendar waved a hand dismissively, moving forward to open the book for Giles. “Look at this.”

Willow stepped forward, peering over Ms. Calendar’s shoulder. “Anyanka,” she read aloud. “Renowned vengeance demon, specializing in…scorned women.”

“Bad breakups!” Ms. Calendar sounded positively delighted. “And Charlotte’s been upset over her ex-boyfriend—it all fits.”

“Not the part where Ms. Emerson went all Invisible-Woman on us,” Xander interjected. “That doesn’t seem like something a vengeance demon would do.”

“No, see,” Faith’s eyes lit up, “she wished that no one could see or hear her, ‘cause she felt like she was making a scene, and Anyanka grants wishes, right?”

“Jenny, you’ve got tomato sauce on your nose,” Giles was saying at the same time. “What? Oh, yes—it does say here—Anyanka has the power to grant any wish made by a vengeful woman.”

“And she chose to grant that one?” said Ms. Calendar with amusement. “That’s pretty literal-minded.”

“Okay, so we know why Anyanka turned Ms. Emerson invisible,” said Buffy, handing Willow a plate of spaghetti. Willow, who was particularly hungry after the action-packed last few hours, gratefully started eating. “That doesn’t tell us how to turn her back.”

“According to this, Anyanka’s power is in her necklace,” Giles explained, handing Ms. Calendar the book to take a serving of spaghetti. “Thank you, Buffy. Theoretically, if we could break the necklace, that would then break the power of Anyanka’s spell on Ms. Emerson.”

“Or we could ask nicely,” Willow suggested. “I don’t think Anyanka meant to turn Ms. Emerson invisible, exactly.”

Ms. Calendar shook her head. “There are definitely patron saints of scorned women who don’t do harm,” she said. “I remember after a really bad breakup in my teens, I called on the help of one of them to help me heal. But Anyanka is a vengeance demon, and that’s a very, very different thing.”

“So how do we get the necklace?” Oz asked.

“I’m going to summon Anyanka,” Ms. Calendar replied. She hesitated, thinking, then, “Rupert, could you break up with me for a second?”

“What?” said Giles, looking honestly bewildered.

“Just—you know, as a precaution,” said Ms. Calendar, as matter-of-factly as if she was asking Giles to do the dishes. “That way, I can honestly tell Anyanka that she’s been summoned by a scorned woman.” She took another bite of spaghetti.

Giles still looked a little confused, but replied, “Right, um—I hereby terminate our relationship.”

Ms. Calendar choked on her spaghetti and started laughing.

“Giles,” Buffy whispered very audibly, “never use the word ‘terminate’ to break up with someone.”

“Yes, thank you, Buffy,” said Giles irritably. “Jenny, I really am breaking up with you. Stop laughing.”

“Yeah, Ms. Calendar,” Xander chimed in, grinning. “You don’t look scorned.”

Still giggling, Ms. Calendar staggered over to take the book from Giles. “God, I can’t even look at you,” she managed, hitting him lightly with the book. “Such a dork.” She looked over at the group, and her smile faded a little. “Everyone stay in the kitchen, okay?” she said. “This thing is between me and Anyanka. I don’t want anyone caught in the crossfire.”

“I actually think—” Giles began.

“No men,” Ms. Calendar reminded him.

“That wasn’t what I had in mind,” said Giles a little irritably. “I was merely going to say that I think you should have a Slayer assist you. You can summon Anyanka, and the Slayer can take the necklace.”

“Why just one?” Faith grinned at Buffy. “Two makes it all the more fun.”

Even after all the stuff that had gone down in the factory, Willow felt more than a little left out. Magic was her thing with Ms. Calendar. “Can I help too?” she asked, already pretty sure she knew the answer.

Ms. Calendar looked between Buffy, Willow, and Faith, then said, “You know what? I think Buffy’s going to help me on this one. Faith, you and Willow can help set up the ritual, but then I want you both to go to the kitchen too, okay?”

This wasn’t at all what Willow had expected. Judging by the expressions on Buffy’s and Faith’s faces, they hadn’t seen that one coming either. “Okay,” said Willow, still a little surprised, but not feeling quite as sidelined.

“Okay,” Faith agreed, picking up the pot of spaghetti. “Should I finish up serving dinner?”

Buffy paced the living room while Ms. Calendar prepared herbs and materials for the ritual. Everyone else was having dinner in the kitchen, and a part of her kind of wished she was there; she’d never really gotten the chance to connect with Ms. Calendar, and she was honestly still a little worried that Ms. Calendar might harbor some resentment towards her.

Sure, Ms. Calendar was nice and all, but Buffy still didn’t know all that much about her. And more and more, she was beginning to feel the effects of that. Willow would gush about something particularly witty Ms. Calendar had said, and Faith—well, obviously Faith didn’t gush, but there was clear affection in Faith’s voice whenever she brought up Ms. Calendar at all. It made Buffy feel strangely left out. She wanted to appreciate Ms. Calendar for more than just being Giles’s girlfriend, but she didn’t know where to start.

“Why’d you want me to help out?” Buffy asked without thinking.

Ms. Calendar looked up from where she was setting up the last of the herbs. “What?”

“Why me?” Buffy repeated, feeling a little embarrassed to even ask. It was too late to go back now, though, so she continued. “I mean—Faith’s pretty much your Slayer, and you and Willow have that whole magic thing going on. Why just me?”

Ms. Calendar smiled slightly. “Because,” she said, “you’re important to Rupert, and therefore important to me.”

The answer was simple, and it made Buffy feel warmed and guilty at the same time. She didn’t like that Ms. Calendar still liked her. If the situation were reversed, she sure wouldn’t like Ms. Calendar. “I wasn’t exactly great to you last year,” she said. “And I barely know you.”

“Another reason why I want you to help me out,” Ms. Calendar replied without missing a beat. “Nothing like taking down a centuries-old vengeance demon to get to know someone.”

Buffy smiled nervously and handed Ms. Calendar the spellbook. “You ready?”

“All set,” Ms. Calendar agreed. “Get ready to tackle her when she shows up.” She began to read. “Oh, Anyanka, I beseech thee,” she recited, giving Buffy a small, encouraging grin. “In the name of all women scorned…” She sprinkled a handful of herbs onto the fire. “Come before me,” she finished.

Quietly, and without fanfare, a demon appeared in the middle of the room.

“Huh,” said Buffy.

“Why have you called on me?” Anyanka asked somewhat imperiously.

“I’m a scorned woman with a wish to make,” said Ms. Calendar seriously. “See, my boyfriend just terminated our relationship—”

“You think I don’t know your trickery?” Anyanka demanded. “There is no wrath in your heart! I have seen the look of a vengeful woman, and you are not one, so why have you called on me?”

“All right, enough’s enough,” Buffy announced. As Anyanka turned to look at her, Buffy tackled her, grabbing the demon’s wrists and holding on tight. “Ms. Calendar, get the pendant!” she shouted.

Ms. Calendar rushed over, pulling the necklace away from the demon. The chain snapped. “Guys, get in here!” Ms. Calendar shouted, just as Anyanka broke free of Buffy’s hold in an attempt to retrieve her necklace.

In the commotion, Buffy managed to grab the necklace herself, tossing it across the room to Giles. “Smash it!” she yelled.

Anyanka let go of Ms. Calendar, rushing Giles. He threw the necklace behind him to Faith, who placed the necklace carefully down on the floor and stomped on it as hard as she could.

A ripple passed through the living room—

“God, I wish no one could see me like this!” the teacher burst out. “Or—or even hear me!”

“Done,” said the other woman ominously.

Shit, thought Faith, that’s weird. She decided that she would wait on getting the frozen peas.

“Wait—done,” she heard the other woman saying as she left.

“I wish Robert was in as much pain as I was,” the teacher continued, sniffling. “I wish he was in more pain than I was!”

“Done!” The other woman sounded extremely frustrated.

Faith rounded the corner to the shopping cart, smiling at the group. “Hey,” she said. “We might have to wait on getting the frozen peas. Some teacher’s having a breakdown about her ex-boyfriend.”

“I’m guessing that’s Ms. Emerson,” said Jen sympathetically. “At least she’s got a friend on staff. Some substitute teacher—”

“Yikes,” said Xander. “You never can tell with substitute teachers in Sunnydale.”

#fic #imperfections #i took out a section that was basically just anya being sulky #but i might post it later as a tiny standalone

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